Category Archives: 100 Days Project

These recipes are ones I made during 100 Days Project 2013. The goal was for 100 consecutive days to make a new recipe I had never tried before. Please visit my 100 Days Project page for more information and a gallery of the recipes specific the the 100 Days Project: http://100daysproject.co.nz/project/2013/142

Cranberry sauce is always one of my favorite parts of the Thanksgiving meal.

I think as a young future vegetarian, who did not like turkey very much, Cranberry sauce was one of the things I looked forward to the most. Typically it was just the jellied wobbly canned stuff that comes out with the ridges imprinted in the sides, but cranberry sauce was one of the special foods that may family only ate at Thanksgiving, which made it seem that much more fantastic. Now I am older, and prefer to make food from scratch and use as little processed and preserved ingredients as possible, so when I found this recipe fromJerry James Stone, the idea of making my own Cranberry sauce caught my attention. Especially if you are adding a little booze.

Although, I have a feeling “Boozy” might be a bit of a misnomer here, as I suspect most the alcohol will bake off, but it will still leave behind that lovely residue of sugar and will have helped macerate the cranberries. Maceration is a process in food preparation that uses liquids (often alcohol ) to soften or break up tough ingredients like raw, dried, preserved, or fresh fruit and vegetables and help them release their own juices adding to the flavor and making the ingredient easier to chew and digest.

I am making this cranberry sauce as a test for this year’s Thanksgiving. I am heading home to The States to be at my family Thanksgiving for the first time time since I moved to New Zealand 7 years ago. Looking forward to seeing my family and helping to cook up vegetarian treats to add to the Thanksgiving table.

Half the oranges. Then in a large mixing bowl add the honey and juice the orange halves. If you are using solid honey, pop it in the microwave for 30 seconds to a minute to help liquify the honey.

Add the liqueur and whisk together the juice and honey mixture so that the honey is mostly dissolved into the juice.

Add in the cranberries and gently mix so they are lightly coated. Then place the cranberries in a baking dish or on a shallow cookie sheet and bake for 40 min on 180 C or 350 F. They are ready when the cranberries have wilted, cracked, and broken open.

You can chill them and serve them later but they are best hot and gooey. Also if you prefer a saucier texture you can roughly pulse the baked cranberries in a blender with some of the left over juice.

I think onion dip was one of the first thing I ever learned how to make as a kid.

This 1950’s classic onion soup mix and sour cream concoction is essential at American parties, BBQ’s, and picnics and I used to make it for after school snacks when I had friends around. I was thrilled to find that here in New Zealand they make a similar version, and it is just as common, if not more so, to have onion dip at parties and gatherings. The one main difference is that in New Zealand they use reduced dream instead of sour cream, but the overall flavor is very similar.

When I found this recipe for Caramelized Onion and Goat Cheese Dip, on the Kitchen Simplicity blog, it seemed like a good alternative that used fresh ingredients instead of the typical packaged and processed ones. The results are very similar tasting, although this recipe has the added subtle goat cheese flavor and a stronger caramelized onion taste, but there is nothing wrong with that as far as I am concerned. If you are going to eat onion dip , you might as well eat ONION dip.

Heat oil in a pan or skillet over a medium-low heat. Add the chopped onions and garlic, and season with salt and pepper. Cook the onions down, stirring often, until it caramelizes and turns a deep golden brown. Set the caramelized onion aside to cool slightly.

Meanwhile stir together sour cream and goat cheese, mashing the goat cheese with a fork
to break it up. I use the TararuaLite sour cream as it is one of the only vegetarian sour creams you can find in New Zealand (only thr Lite version is vegetarian). Stir in the caramelized onions and garlic addong the fresh chives and more salt and pepper to taste.

Cover and refrigerate at least one hour before serving with corn chips, potato chips, pretzels, fresh bread, or any other party snack. Honesty, you could very easily just lick this off a spoon.

I am sure some of you may be thinking I have gone a bit crazy with this one . . .

I have to admit I was a bit skeptical at first of the recipe, from Treehugger,using these type of Mexican flavors in a pasta dish, but my curiosity got the better of me and I decided to try it. I have to admit I was pleasently surprised. Not only did the grilled avocado make a delicious creamy Alfredo-like sauce (yet without any dairy) the Mexican flavors worked with the pasta better than I expected them to. I am really keen to try playing twith the idea of an avocado pasta sauce again, but next time with more Italian flavors added in.

This dish is completely Vegan, dairy free, and can easily be made gluten free by substituting a gluten-free pasta.

Black Bean Pasta with Smokey Avocado Sauce

adapted from: Treehugger

MAKES: 2 large servings

INGREDIENTS

1 avocado

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus some for drizzling

3/4 cup of fresh cilantro, chopped

Juice of 1 lime, or more to taste

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp cayenne, or more to taste

1 garlic clove

1/2 cup canned black beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 red onion, diced

1 serrano chili or medium heat chilli, chopped finely

250g of pasta (Linguine or Fettuccine)

Cut an avocado in half and brush with olive oil. and grill the halves flesh side down until the fruit is nicely charred. Scoop out the warm grilled flesh and put it in a food processor adding 1/2 cup cilantro, the lime juice, salt and cayenne, and one garlic clove. Process to make a purée, and then slowly stream in 1/4 cup olive oil and continue processing until the sauce emulsifies and has a creamy consistency. Taste and add more lime juice, salt or cayenne if necessary, and then set aside.

In a separate bowl mix black beans with finely diced red onion and serrano chile. Add a drizzle of olive oil, a squeeze of lime juice, another 1/4 cup chopped cilantro and salt to taste. Stir gently and let sit to meld the flavors.

Cook linguine or other pasta until pasta is al dente. Drain and add avocado puree and mix until well incorporated. Spoon bean mixture over the pasta, dress with a bit more cilantro and serve immediately while still warm.

Gah!!! It was on of those way too busy Mondays, when you wish it was still Sunday and you can hide in bed with the covers over your head. I definitely needed a quick and easy meal for tonight’s dinner.

Treehuggerto the rescue!! Their recipe for a simple Red Lentil and Sweet Potato curry was just what I needed.

Curryis the generic English term to describe a wide variety of dishes from multiple word cusines. The similarity between dishes that are called a curry is the use of complex combinations of spices and herbs that is traditionally selected for each dish because of cultural tradition, religious practice, and family preference. Each individual dish usually has a specific name in the language of its origin describing the ingredients incorporated into the curry.

In a large saucepan over high heat, warm the oil, and add the onion and a pinch of salt to sauté, stirring occasionally, until the onion softens (3 to 4 minutes). Add the sweet potato, ginger, garlic, curry powder and bay leaf and continue cooking for about a minute or until fragrant.

Then pour in the boiling water and stir in the lentils bringing the pot to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover and simmer until the lentils break down and the sweet potatoes are tender (18 to 20 minutes). Season with salt.

While the potatoes and lentils are cooking, make rice basmati or jasmine rice for serving, or warm pita bread in the oven.

Remove the bay leaf and dish curry out on top of rice or to eat with the pita bread. Chop green onion to sprinkle over the top along with a small (or large) pinch of chili flakes, and serve while warm.

Well . . . when you make fresh bread the day before, than a sandwich of some sort is almost a necessity.

I am a big fan of breakfast sandwiches, piling up layers of tasty ingredients on top of a slice of bread and topping it with some an egg or two. I found this recipe for an open face fried egg sandwich with Roasted Chilies and thought it would be a perfect match for the bread I made for my Day 51: Chipotle and Scallion Buttermilk Bread post.

Fried egg sandwiches have been around since at least the early 1900s, and believed to originally come from England. In 1910, a New York Times article describes the oddity of seeing actors on horror film set eating fried egg sandwiches dressed as “deathlike phantoms”. As an alternative to meat because of the war rationing, the first fast food fried egg sandwiches were introduced, by a manager at a St. Louis White Castle, during WWII . While many WWII soldiers returned home with the taste for this kind of meal, since fried egg sandwiches called “Banjos” were popular with the troops in the trenches. Here is a piece of “saucy” trivia for you Herbivores . . . food writer Gael Greene wrote about her brief romantic encounter with Elvis Presley, and that a fried egg sandwich was his favorite post-coital snack.

I served this sandwich with the last of the Slow Cooked BBQ Baked Beans from my Day 44 post, which made a perfect Sunday late morning breakfast.

Transfer the toast to a plate, and spread it with a thin layer of adobo sauce.

Slice the poblano peppers, and put them on a roasting pan under the grill until they get a bit black. Layer the roasted chillies over the adobo sauce.

Put more butter in the pan and wait for it to melt, before cracking the egg into it. Fry the egg until the clear has gone white and the yolk is not too over cooked. Layer the egg on top of the adobo sauce and the roasted chillies.

This recipe from the Fork, Spoon, and Knife blog uses a combination of green/spring onion, spicy chipotle peppers, and rich buttermilk bread was just too tempting.

It is hard to find a lot of chilli pepper types in NZ, and Chipotle peppers are no exception.La Mama and Tio Pabloare two brands that are imported, and you can usually find one or the other in the higher end shops likeNosh or Farro Fresh. Chipotles are a key ingredient in Mexican food. They have heat and a distinctive smoky flavor and give the food a mild and earthy spiciness. These chilis acan be used to make salsas and are often ground and combined with other spices to make a marinade called adobo. The flesh of the chilli is thick, so they are usually used in a slow-cooked dish rather than raw.

The bread recipe is flavorful enough to be eaten on its on, with a slather of butter or cream cheese, or used for a sandwich.

Sift together all the dry ingredients together and whisk together the wet ones. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and fold until just incorporated. Fold in the chipotle and scallions and pour the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for 30 – 40 minutes until just golden brown and it passes the toothpick test. Let the loaf cool in the pan for 15 minutes before removing and slicing.

I am never going to be stumped for something to serve a Vegan dinner guest for desert again!!

This quick recipe, from Treehugger, makes a rich a creamy “ice cream” like desert that is completely Vegan and uses no dairy substitutes. How does this work? The answer is . . . BANANAS!!!

It is great to have another recipe that uses those bananas that are just starting to go too brown and are not so nice for eating anymore. Honestly, there is only so much banana bread a girl can eat, or give away to friends. To make this recipe all you need is bananas, a blender, and about 5 minutes of time. The secret is popping the bananas in the freezer beforehand. Unlike other fruit there is more sugar in bananas than water, so when you freeze them and then put them in a blender they do not break apart and go slushy. Instead, they stick together and turn into a rich creamy mixture not all that dissimilar from ice cream. Once you have the base mixture of blended banana, you can pretty much add any ingredients you want to make your personal ice cream flavor. All sorts of frozen fruit combinations would work here or you can use fresh fruit, but then have to pop in back in the freezer for a bit before eating. Also, nuts or chocolate never go amiss in ice cream. I chose cherry and dark chocolate, but hey . . . get crazy . . . experiment a little . . . and have fun.

Make sure you peel and chop up the banana into pieces before you put it in the freezer. I did not originally do this, and could not peel my frozen bananas.

Place the frozen banana pieces and your chosen fruits into your blender and pulse. This will help break up the larger chunk of frozen banana to make it easier for your blender to process. Once you have pulsed a few times, blend the banana and fruit into a creamy puree, add more juice for extra flavor. Mix in any toppings like chocolate chips or chopped nuts.

Your mixture should be the consistency of ice cream, and can be eaten right away. If it is too liquid from juice or melting, pop it back into the freezer for a few minutes to harden up.